


Tree Houses

by tgposey



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 22:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4540695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tgposey/pseuds/tgposey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall, Perrie and Harry have been friends since they were kids. Now they’re grown up and it’s time for them to branch out, it might not be as easy as it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tree Houses

“If it wasn’t for the fact that I come here every day, you two would literally be drowning in fast food trash and cans of beer.” Perrie commented with a snort as she continued to clean up the mess around the boy’s flat quickly.

“You’re the best, Pez!” A cheerful voice said before loud screams and groans came out from the living room of the apartment. Walking in, the blonde found her step-brother and best friend sitting on the couch playing a quick game of Fifa.

“YEAH! TAKE THAT, BITCH. I’LL KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS!”

“Harry, Niall, this is a video game not the Olympics.” A glare was soon tossed from both boys to the girl as she tried to clean up around them, quickly running in front of the game trying not to mess up whatever it was that they were doing.

“Per, you don’t understand this is a lifestyle.” Harry said as he paused the game to let Niall get up and go to the bathroom. “A very important lifestyle – it teaches great life changing things. Like cat like reflexes.” What the boy didn’t know was that the comment alone was one to cause Perrie to chuck an empty can at him causing Harry to flail his arms once it already hit his chest.

“Yeah, cat like reflexes are working so well for you.”

“Okay, so quick question.” Niall says once he emerges from the bathroom, zipping up the fly on his trousers as he walks back to the two. “If I were to shave my hair off do you think I could still get all the girls?” An eye roll came from the other two as they all sat down on the couch, Harry at one end, Perrie at the other and Niall squished in the middle – his arm draped around both of them. “So guys, do you know what day it is?” A groan came from both as they quickly realized what Niall was talking about.

On every Thursday night the three went out to the pub and got shit face drunk. The night usually started with the three of them having a beer and laughing about some story that Harry had managed to tell use the wrong choice of words. Shortly afterwards, it spiraled into Harry and Perrie continuing with their first beer while Niall was nearly done with his third – words becoming a bit slow and slurred but his laugh never failing to come out at every word that hit his ear drum. By the time the waitress was clearing Perrie and Harry’s second beer, Niall’s head was smashed down on the table trying to sing along to the same Bon Jovi song that played throughout the bar each time they went. The other two would crack jokes about the drunken boy as they peel him off the table and bring him back to the room. That was their normal Thursday.

———————————–

Neither Perrie nor Niall remember the divorce of their parents because when it happened they were both just a few months old, but they’ll never forget the day they found out they were going to be step brother and sister. Niall’s dad, Bobby, fell in love with Debby, Perrie’s mum and before anyone knew it, the two were properly introducing their kids at a small gathering at Bobby’s house just down the road.

The smell of cinnamon was warm and inviting as the blonde five year old held onto her brother and mum’s hand as she walked into the unfamiliar house for the first time. Jonnie gave a small smile to his sister and her mum walked ahead of the other two to greet her boyfriend with a sweet kiss on the cheek as she walked into the kitchen, not bothering to wait for her kids.

“Bobby, this is Jonnie and Perrie,” her mum said as the two follow up behind her.

“Jonnie, the pleasure is mine.” The man shakes the boy’s hands before kneeling down to become eyelevel with the young girl. “And you must be Perrie berry, your mum tells me a lot about you, kiddo. Just as cute as I thought you would be.” Pinching the girl’s nose quickly, giggles escaped her mouth which just caused everyone around to chuckle. “Niall and Greg should be out soon.” Bobby explains once he stands up. “Niall has a friend over who should be leaving soon too. Perrie, why don’t you go try and find the boys before dinner, they should be upstairs.”

Although the little blonde didn’t say much she listened to his words and walked up the stairs of the unfamiliar house. As she stood at the end of the hallway, the girl looked at all the doors, each one of them shut tightly as she was going to try to find the boys. Knocking on the first door, a boy – about her brother’s age– stepped out, the house phone attached to his ear.

“Yeah, I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone as he looked down at the small girl once he hung up. “You must be Perrie, love. I’m Greg, Bobby’s son – he didn’t tell me you guys would be here so early. Niall and his friend are in the next room over if that’s who you’re looking for.” Leaning down he gave the small girl a high five, walking down the stairs to greet the rest of her family.

Playful screams erupted from the door next door and Perrie quickly walked over, straightening out her dress before reaching up to grab the door knob. Neither of the boys realized what was going on until the light from the hallway shined into the room, causing them to look up from their wrestling to see who the new person was. As Niall held Harry down to the ground Perrie couldn’t help but giggle at the sight, big blue and green eyes stared at the girl as she stood at the door way. Niall was the first to get up and walk up to her.

“Hi! I’m Niall!” The boy said, extending his hand out to her which only caused Perrie to look down at it. There were smudges and marks on his hand that the girl noticed instantly, causing him to meet her gaze, his cheeks turning red at the sight. “It’s just chocolate, Harry was trying to pull it out of my hand and that’s why we were wrestling.”

“Because it was my chocolate!” Harry’s mouth dropped as he looked at the two, his green eyes almost popping out of his head at what the other boy had said. Niall shrugged his shoulders with a small eye roll before he soon grabbed Perrie and gave her a hug. It wasn’t until Perrie was barely breathing from the tight hug that Harry pulled the two apart. “Sorry about him, he likes people. I’m Harry! You must be Bobby’s girlfriend’s daughter; all she does is talk about you when she’s here.”

Perrie’s face fell a bit at the thought that when her mother wasn’t at home that she was with someone else and had failed to mention it to the girl and her brother. “M-My mum comes here a lot?” Were the first words that the girl spoke to the boys, her voice cracking on the spot.

“Harry! Niall! Glad that you met Perrie here. Haz, you staying for dinner?” Bobby asked as he walked up the stairs to where the kids were, not letting the boys answer the question they were just asked.

“I’ll stay if it’s alright with you guys.” Batting his eyelashes and giving a sweet smile, Bobby gave a quick reassuring answer before walking out of the room. The three just sat and looked at each other, not sure how this would all work out in the end.

———————————–

As always, Thursday nights started at Perrie’s place with her cooking one of the three’s favorite meal and had Kitchen Nightmares playing in the background. That night she mad Harry’s favorite, which was just mac and cheese, and sat at the counter listening to the boys argue over something stupid – it was usually over football or which Doctor Who episode was better, usually Perrie would join in and end up winning the argument. Afterwards, they would freshen up before heading to the pub up the street from them. They got their usual table, ordered the same thing and started the night young.

That night was different though, because as Niall got his second drink, his eyes flashed over to a girl sitting at the bar who he had never seen before. Her dark hair flowed down her back, but her bright eyes are what caught his attention the most.

“Guys, guys, she’s checking me out.” Niall cut in to what Harry was saying about the lecture he went to the other day. “What do I do? Help!” He pleaded but they were too busy trying to find who he was looking at. “She’s the one in the red shirt,” he whispered as he turned to find both of them trying to see who they were looking for.

“Oh, that’s Cher, she’s in my Sociology class,” Harry commented.

“Why don’t you try…well…I don’t know…approaching her! It’s not that hard, Niall, and by the looks of it she seems pretty interested already!” Perrie encouraged her step-brother with a small smile. After a sip of his beer and a deep breath, the boy slid out of the booth and walked over to the bar soon making his move on the girl. Back at the table, Harry and Perrie watched as Niall tried to flirt with Cher.

“This is new,” Perrie broke the silence after a few moments. “It’s never just two of us.”

“I know, it’s either one of us or all of us – this is…different.” Harry responded as he raised his beer to his lips, soon knocking his head back to take a big sip. It wasn’t long until Niall gave them a thumbs up while walking out, Cher attached to his hip as he did.

“What time is it?”

“Half past eleven, why?” The blonde gave him a small shrug as she played with the beer bottle in her hand.

“Just wanted to know, did you want to go back to someone’s flat and watch a movie or something?” There were no words needed because as soon as it was suggested, the two were leaving a tip on the table and heading out the door, walking close to each other as they headed back up to Harry and Niall’s place. The air was filled with laughs and small talk until they were in the building where they kept their voices low so that no one would come out and yell at them – at this time they would be holding their hand over Niall’s mouth to keep him quiet but it never worked.

“Which movie do you want to watch?” Harry finally asked once they walked into his flat, throwing his jacket over one of the chairs. “You know where they are – I’m just going to go take a piss real quick.” He says as he walks off, letting the girl walk over to where they kept their movies. Blue eyes searching each title, her fingers tracing the boxes as she finally lands on (500) Days of Summer – taking it out of the shelf and putting it in the DVD player, letting it play through the previews.

“I hope you don’t mind I picked a kind of chick flick.” Perrie says once Harry emerges from the bathroom.

“Don’t mind, that movie is actually good.” He says once he sees the box sitting on the coffee table. The two set themselves up on the couch, their bodies close to each other and a blanket covering their legs and they rested them on the coffee table in front of them. What no one knew about the two was that they were so used to being close and all over each other that it was just second nature – growing up as best friends it was nothing but normal for them.

“There’s no such thing as love, it’s a fantasy…” Perrie and Harry said at the same time both laughing at the fact that it was their favorite line of the movie.

“Do you believe in that?” Perrie asked curiously after a few moments of silence.

“In what?”

“That there’s no such thing as love, that it’s a fantasy.” No, Harry’s brain screamed but he silenced himself trying to think of a good way to answer the girl’s question.

“It’s complicated, Pez. I don’t love easily but I do love certain things in my life.” It was true, he had only been in love once – although he wasn’t sure it ever stopped, he wasn’t even sure it was love – but he did know he loved people around him. “I love my parents, and Gemma, I love my friends like you and Niall but I don’t know if it’s just cloudy judgment to love someone or the movie is right and it’s just a fantasy.”

“I hope it’s not,” she spoke up with a shake of her head. “I really want to fall in love one day and get married. I don’t even think people are in love when they get married anymore, it’s kind of stupid, why waste all that money on a party, get it back in gift form and then use it towards your divorce six months later.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Okay, what about Romeo and Juliet?”

“…What about Romeo and Juliet?” He asked questionably, the topic was so left field that he wasn’t sure where she was going with it.

“The whole ‘love at first sight at a young age’ thing, what do you believe?”

“I believe that Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the worst play written of all time for that reason alone. You cannot fall in love with someone at first sight. Not only did they think they were in love but it is also noted mostly the whole way through that Romeo is in love with that other girl.”

“Rosaline.”

“Yeah, yeah, her. Like I just think it was a poor choice of judgment made on Romeo’s behalf, it doesn’t show young love it show stupidity and how the heart chooses before the mind can be like ‘hold up, you’re talking to a psycho lunatic who is pretending she is dead.’ What is that?”

“Remind me never to take you to see Romeo and Juliet on Broadway.” She chuckled with a shake of her head before resting herself back onto his chest and closing her eyes. A few minutes passed again before Harry choose to speak.

“I didn’t think that we would have as much fun without Niall, I mean I miss him and all but it’s nice for it to be just us two, it’s definitely a lot different, Pez. Maybe we should make this a more frequent thing.” Harry’s words finished and his eyes flashed down to find the girls head resting on his chest, her eyes closed tight as she was breathing heavily, obviously had fallen asleep. Harry’s mouth twitched into a small smile, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, not wanting to wake her up. There was something about the way they were that made his heart stop for a moment – he knew there always was something different about Perrie but he wasn’t ever able to place his finger on it.

————————————————————————————————————————–

Before anyone could even say anything, Niall was hanging around the two less and less and more with Cher, which meant Harry and Perrie, were seeing a lot more of each other. Whether it was just from walking to lectures together or getting a bite to eat – the two were just always together.

On one night in particular, the two were at the university library making sure that no one caught them sneaking in their Starbucks. The two both had big tests the next day and usually Niall would be here trying to get them to leave or cracking jokes the whole time but this time they were all more than motivated to get their stuff done. That was…until Harry suggested taking a break, in which the two were back to slacking and talking as normal.

“Do you have snacks?” Harry asked, his stomach starting to make noises as he slouched in the chair.

“Keep that thing down,” Perrie joked with a small wink as she opened up her bag – which the boys liked to call the bag that never ends since she could fit almost everything into her bag and had whatever anyone needed every single time they needed it. “But, yes I do have snacks. Do you want healthy or non-healthy? I have Oreos and then I have a banana.”

“Oreos, please!” His voice was that of a child’s, stretching out the last ‘e’ in the word please, giving a small innocent grin as he put his hands out making a grabbing motion with them.

“I feel like your mum sometimes and I don’t know if that’s good or not,” Perrie mumbled as she handed over the bag. “Have you heard from Niall at all?” She asked while peeling the banana, breaking off a piece before eating it.

“I will not answer that question until you properly learn to eat a banana, Edwards.” Teasingly shaking his head with a ‘tsk’, Harry soon spoke again actually answering her question. “Yeah, he texted me before that he had something important to tell us so I told him where we were. One of the reasons I suggested to take a break because Lord knows we won’t be able to study once he gets here.” As if it was fate or something, Niall ran into the library, finding them straight away – his breathing heavy and his forehead with a thin line of sweat on it.

“Guys, I have great news!”

“Did you just run here?” Perrie asked, the librarian walking past and telling the group they had to be quiet or else she would have to ask them to leave.

“Yes, but that’s not important.” Niall says, his voice quieter than it was before as he leaned over the table so both of them could hear what he was saying. “What is important is the fact that this boy now has a girlfriend. An actual girlfriend, I haven’t had an actual girlfriend since Jade and we all know how that worked out. Besides the whole fact alone that I have a girlfriend and since I just brought up Jade now here’s my problem – how do I not mess this one up? I mean, I really like her and I don’t want to have it end so early.”

“Then don’t cheat on her, Niall, simple as that.” Perrie said with a slight attitude towards him. Jade was her only girl best friend and because of Niall’s stupid actions of dating her and cheating on her, Perrie was forced to choose and sadly she and Jade no longer speak. Not to mention, Perrie’s father had cheated on her mother causing the divorce – it was all sore things for her.

“Look, I apologized for that but I know I shouldn’t cheat, I told her about my past and I feel like she’s worried so I need help here!” Harry sighed and stood up, nodding his head to the side. “Take a walk with me, Horan, I’ll teach you all about the wonderful mysteries of girls while we let Perrie study a bit more.” He sent her a small wink before putting his arm around Niall and walking away slowly. “First thing’s first, you don’t look at other girls…”

———————————–

The night of Debby and Bobby’s wedding was one that everyone was excited for, even seven year olds Niall and Perrie who, despite only meeting two years prior, had grown to be almost exactly like brother and sister already. Niall was the one who had gotten Perrie out of her shell and promised her that he wouldn’t let anything happen to his “little sister” (she was older). And the night of the wedding was a huge success for both families who seemed more than pleased with the second marriage than the first. Perrie, Harry and Niall all shared a table with a few of the younger cousins from each side but it was mostly the three of them who were talking and making jokes while the others were giving them looks or crying for their mum’s.

“Knock, knock!” Harry said as he tried to kill the awkward silence, everyone’s heads turned to look at the boy.

“Who’s there?” Niall’s cousin Emma said, looking up from her coloring book and at him with wide eyes.

“Queen.”

“Queen who?” Perrie’s cousin Kate asked.

“Queen my dishes please!” A laugh erupted out of Niall and Perrie almost spit out the water she was drinking while the rest of the kids just sat there, not amused by the joke. After a few seconds of laughter, it died down and left an even more awkward silence to fill the room.

“Wow, tough crowd.” Harry mumbled as the waiter came by and set down a plate of chicken fingers and chips for each kid. Eating in silence, the kids all kept their heads down except the other three who were passing glances and even tried not to giggle loudly. As they finished and the band soon took over to start playing, Niall was the first one to grab Harry and Perrie and pulled them to the dance floor where they held hands and jumped around in circles to the sound of the music. The three caught everyone’s attention and the dance floor started to fill up – the music beat increasing and everyone having more fun. The photographer came around; asking the kids to take a picture which ended up Niall putting his arm around the two and pulling them close until they could barely breathe.

“Niall, c’mere!” Bobby slurred as he pulled his son away to take pictures and say goodbye to some family members, leaving the other two to dance. The music slowed down and soon all the couples were dancing romantically to the song “You Are So Beautiful”.

“Should we be doing that?” Harry asked

“Uh, why not?” Perrie responded as he moved his arms and hugged the girl, letting her put her arms around his neck and dancing to the music. Closing her eyes and resting the side of her head on the side of his, she hummed along to the music, loving the moment that they were in.

“I never danced with a girl before,” Harry confessed after a few moments of silence between the two.

“I’ve never danced with a boy before, either.” Perrie whispered as she pulled away a bit to look at Harry. His big green eyes were sparkling from the lights around them, his sweet smile was flashed at her, and his cheeks were burning red from embarrassment.

“Want to make a promise?” Perrie nodded, waiting for him to bring up the idea he had. “We will try to be each other’s first for everything. I mean, I know that I’m dating Cara right now but she doesn’t have to know.” Pulling out of the dance fully, he put up his pinky finger and waited for her to respond. Her lips pursed together tightly, a worried look on her face as he waited for to say or do something.

“Deal.” A smile pulled at her lips as she wrapped her finger around his, giggles escaping her lips as the two held tightly onto each other’s pinky’s as they looked at each other.

———————————–

“Is this seat taken?” A voice called, causing Perrie to look up from her studies. A boy with dark black hair and light brown eyes stood over her fixing his glasses as he waited for the girl to answer his question.

“N-No, not at all!” Perrie said with a tight smile as she moved some of the books that Harry left so the boy could sit across from him. “Studying last minute too?”

“Yeah, I have an English exam and my professor is absolutely insane, he gave us all the material this morning and told us we needed to know everything by tomorrow.” A scoff escaped his lips as he opened up his notebook and text book to the page where he needed to be. “My name’s Zayn, by the way. Sorry for just…picking here to randomly sit, everywhere else is taken.”

“Don’t worry about it, love. It’s nice to meet you, Zayn. I’m Perrie, my friends ditched me before so a bit of company isn’t going to hurt.”

“How could someone leave someone as pretty as you all by yourself? I don’t believe it.”

“Oh, well thank you! But considering one is my step-brother and the other is…like a brother, it’s nothing unusual to me.” A blush started to rise in her cheeks as she spoke softly. “It’s okay, if they stayed then you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“One door closes and another one opens, yeah?”

“Look at you being all sophisticated and such!”

“Well, being an English major and stuff, metaphors are my number one forte.” Zayn winked at her, the two starting to banter back and forth for a few minutes. Time flew as they talked, pushing their studies away and starting to get to know each other better.

Meanwhile, Niall and Harry were having a big chat – Harry trying to coach him in how to act around Cher. Teaching the boy that manners is one of the biggest things, cheating is not acceptable and most importantly that whatever a girl says is right, even if she is wrong…she’s right.

They walked back to where they were sitting before but stopped short once seeing that Perrie was sitting down with someone else, and talking to him instead of studying for her exam. Harry didn’t want to be seen so he stepped in between the book cases, pulling Niall with him as he peaked through the books to see them.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Niall whispered as he tried to listen in on the conversation that was happening between his step-sister and the mysterious boy. “He doesn’t look like a good kid, should I go up there? I mean, I am family, I have a right.”

“Niall, shut up! They could know each other from class,” Harry hissed, shoving the boy lightly as they continued to watch.

“Your friends are staring at us through a bookcase.” Zayn whispered to Perrie as he looked up to see the boys. “Whatever you do, don’t turn around.” A groan came from the blonde as she was embarrassed with the fact that they always had to mess with something that came up in Perrie’s life. She understood that they were just protective and since they had been with each other almost their whole lives that it was like they were one giant close knit family but it got to a point where it was annoying sometimes.

“Want to mess with them?” Perrie suggested a smirk crawling on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows. “Just pretend like you’re being a total wanker to me and all you want to do is get in my pants while I just constantly try to turn you down. They’ll get a kick out of it.”

“Got it.” He said before coughing slightly to get the boys’ attention. “So, Per, how about me, you, some booze and we get the hell outta this place?”

“No, Zayn, that sounds disgusting.”

“What’s disgusting is the fact that you won’t give it a chance. I could make your dreams come true, baby.”

“You know what my dream is? For you to fuck off.”

“Of you could just fuck me, that would be equally as great, don’t you think?” The two continued going back and forth, getting more and more heated until finally Niall and Harry had to step in to stop them.

“Hey, dick, get away from my sister. I don’t know who you think you are to talk to her like that but say one more thing and I swear I will make sure you won’t be able to speak ever again” Niall threatened as Harry pulled Perrie away from him. Zayn just looked at the blonde who started laughing which caused him to start laughing as well.

“What the hell!” Harry said as he let go of Perrie and shared a confused look with Niall.

“You guys actually fell for that?” She managed to get out in between laughs that she shared with Zayn. “That’ll teach you guys to spy on me, next time either just leave me alone or hide in a better place.” The blonde snapped once she finally calmed down. “It’s incredibly rude to try and get into my personal space especially since Harry and I didn’t spy on you and Cher at the bar. I thought you two were better than that.”

“Hey, that’s not fair, Pez,” Harry defended looking down at her and then up at Zayn. His blood began to boil as his mind replayed the words that the unfamiliar boy spat “jokingly” at her. “We don’t trust him, we don’t even know him.” He whispered harshly at her. “And for you to have him play a joke and say things like that isn’t cool.”

“What’s not cool is respecting my personal space.” Moving past and grabbing her bag, she stuffed her books in. “Come on, Zayn, let’s go.” She huffed as she put her bag over her shoulder and pushed past the boys. “Don’t wait up.” Perrie called, not looking back once she left.

“What did we do wrong?” Niall sighed as he let Harry go and finish cleaning up his stuff. “I-I just wanted to look out for her, no guys should speak to any girl like that. Just seeing it being Perrie it made my brotherly instincts kick in and…now I feel bad.” His phone soon rang and he found himself making plans with Cher. “You’re going back to the apartment?” Niall questioned as they walked out of the library, Harry giving a small head shake. His body was still shaking from anger from what had just happened, and his fist was clenching his backpack tightly as he walked.

“I’m going to head over to Perrie’s make sure that she gets home safely.” He mumbled as he started to walk in the opposite direction of Niall, who didn’t even try to fight Harry on his decision and walked away to call Cher. Little did any of them know that Harry was experiencing jealousy and that deep, deep down the curly haired boy wanted nothing more than to make sure she was okay – he didn’t trust this guy and he sure as hell didn’t trust Perrie with him.

———————————–

“You’re a bloody idiot!” Was what Harry woke up to as Perrie threw a pillow at his face; he had a spare key to her flat and snuck in while she was out with Zayn and laid down on her couch to wait for her. One thing led to another and Harry promised himself he would only close his eyes for a moment but a moment turned into a minutes which turned into hours. “What are you even doing here? I have nothing to say to you right now.”

“You can’t be mad at me, the way he was treating you was pretty believable! If he is who I’m thinking of then I’ve heard a lot about him and he’s not a good guy, he’s going to hurt you.”

“And so what if he does? It won’t be my first heartbreak and it won’t be my last. You and Niall can’t protect me from every guy you think is bad.” Walking over to the couch and sitting down next to him, she put her hand on his knee and spoke softly to him. “Harry, you guys might be my best friends but you can’t shelter me from everything in my life as much as you want me to. I’m supposed to live and learn and make mistakes, but I know Zayn isn’t a mistake.” Harry sighed as he listened to her, not wanting to believe what she said although he knew that he would have to agree with her if he wanted her to not be mad at him anymore. “I love you both for being there for me and you know that if I need anything you guys are the first I call but I can’t live my life in a bubble.”

“Alright, alright; you’re right, I know I was wrong but next time don’t have him say stuff like that and maybe I won’t freak out as much.”

“Fine, I promise but only if you promise that you’ll give Zayn a chance, he makes me happy already.” Harry nodded his head in a silent agreement, his eyes soon traveling as he watched her stand up from her seat and reach out to grab his hand. “Let’s go to bed.” Harry and Perrie have been sleeping in the same bed since they knew each other and whenever they would fight they would cuddle and go to sleep– it was just something that they did without a second thought. Perrie let the boy strip down to his boxers as she went into the bathroom and changed into shorts and a t-shirt that was ten times too big for her.

“Is it just me or did your room get bigger?” Harry asked as he opened up the bed and climbed in.

“Well, since Jesy dropped out of school and the university told me there was no point of trying to find me a roommate so now it’s little ole me.” Perrie walked out and climbed into the bed, feeling the warmth from Harry’s body as she settled herself in. Instinctively, Harry wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled himself next to her, his head fitting in between her neck.

“Gosh, I’m so tired.” He mumbled, his lips against the skin of her neck, tickling her as he spoke.

“Then go to bed, silly goose.” She whispered, her hands running through his hair calmingly. Her lips found his forehead and she pressed them tightly against it. Secretly, she didn’t want him to go to bed, she didn’t know why. Perrie was supposed to be mad at him, she was supposed to be angry and yelling at him but she found herself relaxing in his arms and that’s all she wanted. But, Zayn. She cursed herself for even remembering about the boy she met a few hours before hand.

It wasn’t until she felt him starting to kiss her neck that Perrie closed her eyes tightly, he did that sometimes when he felt her heartbeat increase only to calm her down. For some reason, she felt like if he kept kissing her neck, she wouldn’t be able to resist and it would lead to things. Things that she would want but she wasn’t sure if he did. He pulled out a bit and looked up at her, his green eyes wide at the moment. There were times that things between them got heated to the point where they had to remind themselves that they were just friends – those nights haven’t happened since before they came to university. Perrie instantly felt guilty, she just yelled at him because he almost ruined a chance for her to find someone to love but here she was, craving Harry.

“I won’t do anything that you won’t want me to do,” he finally said before leaning up to continue kissing at her neck. Perrie, stop it. She thought to herself. This is wrong, this only happened a few times, this is completely wrong.

“I want to go to sleep.” She managed to croak out as he placed one more kiss on her neck.

“Go to sleep, I’ll be right here when you wake up.” Perrie gave a small head nod before closing her eyes, her mind and body starting to relax itself as Harry began to hum, soft vibrations starting to form on her neck. The two didn’t say a word as they held each other close, drifting off into a sweet and peaceful slumber.

———————————–

At the age of 14 all the boys were just starting to go through puberty while Perrie was starting to finish it. Niall started to grow and even getting braces to fix his teeth which were going in all different directions. Harry, on the other hand, was the same height but his voice was starting to deepen a bit, which Perrie and Niall jumped on right away as they made fun of how his voice would crack as he spoke.

For some reason, which no one knows why, Niall decided he wanted to bleach his hair just like the color of Perrie’s hair, even though Perrie’s was more than natural. It was odd, since he was born brunette and that’s all anyone ever knew him as, the last minute decision was one that shocked his whole family.

“Nice look, mate.” Greg joked as him and Jonnie were searching through the cabinets for food. Debby was the one who said she would do it for him, while Harry and Perrie sat at the kitchen table and watched – although they were more interested in their phones than the actual process.

“Hey! Don’t be jealous that I’m going to look better than you once I’m done.”

“I’ll still be the best looking person in this house,” Jonnie said as he pretended to strike a pose.

“Actually, I think we can all agree that it’s Perrie since she’s a girl,” Greg commented as he walked by and ruffled her hair, Jonnie doing the same after causing her to let out a groan.

“You guys suck!” She called as she started to fix her hair, a laugh escaping from everyone else in the room. A ding was heard from the timer and everyone looked over at Niall. He had aluminum foil in his hair and an apron so his shirt wouldn’t get dirty.

“Alright, Niall, it’s time to rinse out.” Debby said as she helped the boy up from his seat to help him to the sink.

“This is going to be so weird,” Harry said as he watched as Niall’s hair got washed out. “You were a brunette you’re whole life, now you’re just…going to be blonde. Why did you do this anyway?”

“I saw someone online with it and I just thought it looked cool, plus this hair wasn’t doing it for me. I just needed a small change in my life.”

“Getting an earring or getting a design shaved into your hair would have been a small change, Ni, not bleaching your hair!”

“It’ll grow out, Perrie, don’t worry.” After a few minutes of washing and drying his newly blonde locks it was time for him to see for himself how it looked. Perrie put her hands over his eyes as Harry and Debby guided him to the mirror in the bathroom.

“Are you ready?” Debby asked, as Perrie slowly removed her hands from his eyes. After a headshake and his eyes opening, Niall erupted into a laughing fit as he looked at his new hair.

“I look like an elf,” he says as he plays with the locks trying to style it. “But, I like it a lot, honestly.” The look was different for the boy and for some reason it just suited him a lot better than his natural color. “Thank you, Debby! You’re the best!” He says as he turns around and gives the woman a hug before everyone leaves the bathroom. “I need to go show Jade! Let’s go!” He says as he pushes Perrie and Harry out the door.

“What are we going to do there while you two make out?”

“Go on a walk or something?” Niall says as he closes the front door behind him.

“Who says she’s even awake? It’s also half past nine, her mum might not let her out.”

“No, I was talking to her before she said it was fine!” There was no point in trying to argue with Niall since he usually found a way to win it anyway. The walk to Jade’s house was full of talks of the newly blonde locks that Niall displayed and how weird it was to see him like that. “I’ll call you guys when we’re done, alright?” He said as he gave a little wave goodbye to the two and walked to the front door, giving a knock – Jade answered right away, waved at Harry and Perrie and pulled Niall in, shutting the door behind the two.

“Something tells me that Jade’s mum was never home to begin with,” Harry chuckled as the two turned on their heels and started to walk again.

“Knowing Niall and Jade, probably not.”

“It’s weird even though he has a girlfriend and is very committed to her, every girl at school throws themselves at him and I can’t even get a passing glance.”

“Yeah, well if it makes you feel any better I scare away every guy that looks at me. I tried talking to Daniel the other day and he backed away slowly until he hit a teacher whose papers went everywhere and he ran. We both can be losers together.” Perrie tried to laugh it off but it just came out as a sigh.

“Daniel’s an idiot if you didn’t catch onto that,” Harry said looking down at her. “If I were him I wouldn’t have ran away, if I was any guy I wouldn’t run away.” A small blush formed on her cheeks as she looked down, kicking a small pebble as she walked, trying not to let a smile form on her face.

“You have to say that, you’re my best friend.”

“Yeah, probably” Harry softly bumped his hip with hers, causing them both to laugh.

“Remember that promise we made?” She asked, her eyes wandering back up to look at him. “That we would try and be each other’s firsts for as much as we can?” The boy nodded; his curly flopping around as he did. “I’m going to be completely honest here and say that although I had my first boyfriend – which shouldn’t even count since it was like two weeks – I haven’t had my first kiss yet unlike someone, who couldn’t wait for me.” She teased lightly, the two were soon passing Harry’s house, walking towards the fields he had in the backyard. There were no lights on in his house and the cars weren’t in his driveway as for his parents were at a wedding and his sister was at a birthday party. They walked far down, stopping at their usual place that had a string of lights on the trees (Harry’s dad forgot to take them down one Christmas and they surprisingly still worked). Leaning on one of the trees, Perrie’s eyes looked up at the sky searching for the stars.

“If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t either.” He finally spoke up his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.

“You told me and Niall that you did,” She said, her attention going back to the boy a confused look on her face.

“I-I lied, but hear me out first.” He put his hands up defensively as he walked closer to her, hoping that she wouldn’t freak out on him. “After I heard that Niall and Jade were serious, that he had gotten his first kiss and how amazing it was…I-I was jealous of him. This is the kid that got everything from everyone because of how innocent he was…I just wanted to be as equal as him for once.” Harry was standing right in front of Perrie but couldn’t look her in the eye anymore, it hurt him to even think about the fact that he had lied to both of his best friends.

“That’s not fair to Niall he doesn’t mean for that to happen it’s not his fault that he’s so likable.” Perrie tried to clear the awkwardness in the air by giving a small laugh which just caused Harry to shake his head. She reached out, grabbing his hand and pulled him even closer. “But, I can see where you’re coming from so if you don’t say a word I won’t either.” Perrie took a deep breath before leaning up on her toes and pressing her lips to his, her eyes shutting tightly in the moment. No one was more confused than Harry was at that moment but his body reacted quickly, melting into the kiss – his eyes shut tightly, one hand giving hers a squeeze while the other one found her face, and his lips kissing back eagerly. The kiss was probably the worst one that both of them had ever experienced in their lives but at that moment, it was the best. They didn’t know what they were doing at the time and the kiss was short but when they pulled out it was as if the whole world had stopped for those couple of moments. Harry’s phone rang once they pulled out and he didn’t break eye contact with the girl in front of him. 

“Hello? Yeah? Alright, we’ll start heading back now.” Leaning off the tree and unhooking her hand from his, Perrie started to walk away a smile on her face.

“You’re a shit kisser, you know.” She called behind her, Harry jogging to catch up with her.

“Hey! That’s definitely not true at all…is it?” His voice full of concern when he asked, once Perrie wouldn’t answer the question his eyes widened. “Is it? Come on!”

“I’m not telling a soul!” And of course, she didn’t.

————————————————————————————————————————–

“Does this dress make me look fat?” Perrie asked – she was standing in front of the mirror at Niall and Harry’s place, her hands on her hips as she tried to figure out if it was the right dress.

“You look fine, but why so dressed up?” Niall questioned as he walked into the room, leaning against the wall to look at her.

“Today is mine and Zayn’s one month anniversary and he told me he was bringing me to a special place.”

“It’s been a month already?” Harry questioned as he joined the other two. “We haven’t even properly met this bloke yet.”

“And you will…when I’m ready for you guys to meet him.”

“Are you ashamed of us, Edwards?” Niall’s arms crossed and he raised an eyebrow.

“Only a bit” She playfully retorted, giving him a small wink.

“We are offended! We have been nothing but loving to you and this is how we are treated?”

“Put a sock in it, dweebs. You guys can meet him tomorrow, okay? Right now I have to get going because I’m meeting him there.”

“Have fun!” Both of the boys called as Perrie left the apartment, without properly saying goodbye to the boys.

“I’m worried about her…” Niall sighed as he walked over to the couch and sat down waiting for Harry to come join him – which he does after a few moments. “She’s going out with this guy who we’ve met once because they played a prank on us and it’s been a month, Perrie’s never home and our Thursday nights is just you and me now. I mean, yeah, I go and I hang out with Cher from time to time but we understand that we have our own lives and that we need time for our friends.” Bringing his hand up he pinches the bridge of his nose and he closes his eyes shut not able to comprehend how Perrie had just forgotten about them. “Do you think she’s actually happy or do you think she just likes the attention this guy is giving her?”

Harry sucks in a breath as he’s about to answer but all he knows is that whatever he’s going to say is going to break his heart. He came to grips with the fact that he had feelings for Perrie but was still unsure where they were going to lead and how come they started to show when she was gone, he was a confused mess.

“Ni, I’m the last person to want this to happen, trust me, but the night after we had that fight with her she told me something that, as much as it hurts to realize, was true. We shelter her…a lot; we take this role of being these guardians for her because we’ve seen her hurt, we’ve seen her heartbroken and it kills us on the inside. She told me that the more we shelter her the less she will learn from her mistakes and the more mistakes she will make…and it’s true.” Harry leans over and claps a hand on Niall’s back, giving him a small pat as he does so. “I don’t know if she’s happy or not but it’s none of our business, mate, we need to let it go.” Mentally, Harry punches himself because he won’t even be able to let go of her – he never will, but he thinks that maybe the more he says it the easier it will become to finally do it.

He knows it won’t be.

———————————–

Being sixteen one thinks they have the world in the palm of their hands, and you could say that Niall, Perrie and Harry did. Their summer was filled with sneaking out late, getting wasted in the park down the street and trying things for the first time. Waking up late at either of the two houses, they had the same routine every single day and if it wasn’t for Niall going to go visit his mum up in Ireland for a few weeks, they would have continued the same routine every single day.

Perrie cried when she dropped her step-brother off at the airport, her head was in his neck as she held tightly onto him her tears soaking his shirt. The two had never had to say goodbye before because they were always arms distance away from each other since they could remember, they didn’t want to leave. Harry’s goodbye was a little less heartfelt but still carried emotion as the two hugged for a few moments which consisted with Harry telling Niall to stay well and not do anything stupid without him and Niall telling him to take care of Perrie or else.

After a terrible ride home with Harry holding Perrie in the backseat as Bobby and Debby sat in the front, listening to the blonde cry, the two decided to head to the park with a six pack that the boy stole from his house. It wasn’t dark yet, the sun still setting behind the trees as they drank their beers, Perrie’s cheeks still stained with tears.

“I would never be able to do what he was doing,” Perrie broke the silence first, her head resting on the chains that held up the swing as she moved back and forth slowly. “I hate my dad so much that I would never be able to forgive him and go spend time with him.”

“But Maura didn’t cheat; she just fell out of love and then got a boyfriend after the divorce.”

“I know, but Niall didn’t forgive his mum until a few years ago because he grew up and now he’s there. I didn’t have a reason to resent my dad until a few years ago because I grew up and I realized how much of a bloody tool bag he is.” Harry looked down at his beer, letting the girl get out all her anger. “E-Every year I would hope for at least one phone call, I didn’t care what it was for. If it was to tell my mum that he was sorry that he missed a child support payment and he would pay double next time, if it was because he needed to be picked up because his car broke down – I didn’t care! Now, oh, now I care, if he bloody calls I’ll just hang up because he’s the scum of the earth to me. He’s had 14 years to call me…14 years!” Perrie opened her mouth to say something else but she quickly put the beer bottle to her lips, taking a sip she closed her eyes tightly, as it came off her lips a popping sound was made and she burped quietly, a small giggle escaping her lips. “Man, I really fucking hate him.”

Harry didn’t say anything because what was there to say? There was no way she could change the way she was thinking, not to mention that his parents were still together so anything he said would just come back with ‘well your parents didn’t go through a messy divorce or a divorce at all so you don’t know what I’m feeling’. He just sat back and listened to her words while watching her chug her beer, he even swore for a few moments that he saw tears streaming down her face – but he didn’t know what to do, Niall was usually the one to handle this kind of things, not him.

“Do you think he’ll ever find the time to call?” She asks as she looks over at him, her eyes had a glazed look about them that didn’t sit well with Harry. “I-I know I hate him but even just hearing his voice for at least a second would be enough to sit with me.” Perrie let out a small sigh before standing up, her balance a bit wobbly as she dropped her beer bottle on the floor. Harry ran over to her side and wrapped an arm around her, walking her home.

After dropping her home, Harry didn’t see Perrie for the next two days – which was odd for him. Instead of calling her every hour to make sure she was okay, he let her have her space knowing that she probably needed time to deal with Niall’s absence and try to get over her dad cutting her out of his life completely. Deep down, Harry wished that he could go and comfort Perrie, brush her hair out of her face, wipe her tears and try to promise her that everything was going to get better…but he couldn’t. He couldn’t promise something that he didn’t know was true, even if he wish he did.

“Harry, why are you home?” Anne, his mum, said as she walked into the boy’s room, hanging up his clothes as Harry just sat on his bed flipping through the channels on his television – he tried to find something good to watch and ended up landing on the BBC special on something stupid.

“Niall’s up in Ireland, remember?”

“What about Perrie? I thought you two would be hanging out more?”

“Yeah, I’m just not in the mood, I guess.” Anne sighed and walked over, sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed and looked up at him.

“Harry…if you have feelings for Perrie and are scared to be around her…just tell her!”

“What? Mum, no! She doesn’t want to hangout right now; she’s still upset about Niall not being home!”

“Well, then why don’t you call one of your other friends? What about Louis? You two haven’t talked in a while!” Harry sighed a bit and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure, I’ll call him in a bit.” He gave his mum a soft smile before she walked out of his room. Truth was, Louis and Harry weren’t friends anymore nor did they even try. It all started at the beginning of the school year the year prior when Harry had tried to say hello to the boy but got shot down in the end. Louis apologized but it happened again, countless times – so Harry stopped trying, because unlike Niall and Perrie his childhood friendship with Louis didn’t mean as much to him. Louis never cared as much, so why should he?

The phone ringing snapped Harry out of his thoughts and once seeing that it was Niall who was calling him. A smile crept onto his face as he accepted the call and put it up to his ear.

“Miss me yet?”

“Where’s Perrie?” Niall’s voice was firm and it alarmed Harry, he knew that even though she wouldn’t talk to him she wouldn’t miss a second of Niall’s call.

“Um…I’m not sure, why?”

“Harry, this isn’t a joke, I’ve been calling her all morning and I even called the house phone and no one is answering me.”

“Did you try your dad’s cell?”

“Of course I did, I even tried Debby’s. I hate this, I’m so scared now.”

“Mate, take a breath…I-I’ll go over and I’ll check to see if anyone’s home and if everything’s okay, got it?” Niall sighed of relief on the other end which made Harry relax a bit.

“Thank you, I owe you.” Was all he said before the click off on the other line was heard leaving Harry there alone…again. What was he supposed to do? Perrie wasn’t talking to him because she was upset, but for Niall’s whole family not to be answering him it meant that something was going on, something that they didn’t want him to know about – there was no way that anyone was going to tell Harry.

The walk over was fast and pretty much a blur to him, he remembers leaving his house and he remembers arriving at Niall and Perrie’s but he doesn’t remember exactly the road he took there, but those were all details he didn’t really need. Surprisingly, all the lights were off and there wasn’t a car in the driveway.

“They left,” a voice said, causing Harry to turn his attention away from the house and towards where he found Louis standing. He had a wrench in his hand and his forehead had grease on it, as per usual, he was working on his car.

“Do you know when?”

“About an hour ago, maybe? Only Bobby, Debby, Jonnie and Greg went, they tried to convince Perrie but she was yelling at them. Her mum tried to tell her not to make a scene and that making one in front of “someone”, which was obviously me, was embarrassing and nothing to be proud of. She just shrugged it off, yelled some curse words at everyone and walked off.” Harry nodded his head slowly and bit down on his bottom lip – he knew exactly where she was.

“Thanks, mate.” He turned on his heel and started to walk away, but stopped once he head his name being called. Peering over his shoulder, he saw Louis had a small frown pulling on his lips.

“J-…Just let me know if everyone’s okay? They were my friends too.” Harry stopped himself before he spit something out that he would regret later. How someone who disappeared without so much as a word suddenly could start to care? His curls bounced when he shook his head to himself, he just needed to find Perrie, he’d worry about Louis later.

His call with Niall lasted only a few short moments which consisted of Harry telling him what Louis had said and a few ‘fuck’ ‘no way!’ ‘shit, I need to go’ ‘no I really need to go’ and of course, a hang up. It didn’t matter to him though because he just needed to find Perrie and ask what exactly what was going on to ease Niall – and although he wouldn’t admit it, mainly himself.

“I’m coming up, Edwards.” Harry called as he passed where they had their first kiss, what felt like ages ago. Just beyond that point there was a tree house that was built and usually any of the three or all of them came up there to just let their emotions out, but now it just felt like it was used for hiding booze. No words were heard but a few sniffs clued him in as to the fact that he was correct as he carefully climbed up. Despite the fact that the branch it was built on felt like it couldn’t be supported anymore, the place had a warm feeling about it, luckily still big enough for Harry not to have to duck completely to stand up in – not like he’d want to do that anyway.

His eyes finally set on the blonde who was staring at him with wide eyes, as if she were a deer caught in headlights. Her lips were swollen, cheeks were flushed and her nose was red from sniff and wiping it. Neither of them made an attempt to move and her tears just kept flowing down her face, as if they were a waterfall, he was afraid they were never going to stop. So, he did what he thought was best, he reached over and he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her over until she was safely in his arms, crying against this shirt.

The act alone was one that made her cry more and Harry could feel the shirt become damp but he didn’t care; he couldn’t blame her at all. Rubbing her back slowly, all he could think about was what possibly could have happened that caused her to react like this, it surely wasn’t because of missing Niall it couldn’t be. Was it the fight she had with her parents? Maybe her gran got sick? Harry couldn’t muster up the courage to ask her, he was afraid that all it would do was break her down again, so he just kept his lips in a straight line and held her.

It wasn’t until it was completely dark out that Perrie’s crying came to a stop, he wasn’t sure if she had fallen asleep or because she had no more tears to cry…if that was possible, but he could still hear her small breaths and feel her heartbeat.

“Perrie?” He finally broke the silence between the two and it caused the girl to pull out of the embrace a bit to look up at him.

“I ruined your shirt…” she tried to chuckle a bit but found herself not able to even fake it so she let it drop quickly.

“I have plenty more…” The silence fell between them while Harry moved his hand to her cheek and wiped away any straggling tears that were squeezed out when she blinked.

“M-My dad passed away…” She breathed out as her eyes bored into his; his heart was soon in his stomach and he paused wiping her tears. Just the other day she was complaining about how much she hated her dad and how she didn’t care about him anymore, how was this the same girl?

“I’m so sorry…” He began, his arms still wrapped tightly around her, he barely noticed how close their faces were until she pulled back a bit further. “Is that why your family left?” She nodded her head slowly, not questioning how he knew that but she didn’t question how he knew Perrie was in the tree house, she just assumed it was Harry and he always knew.

“I-I’m not upset because I won’t get to see him anymore. It does no good for me to get upset over that, he was never around to begin with so why would I even care?” She inhaled deeply but exhaled her whole body shaking. “I don’t, that’s the thing. I don’t care, what kind of fucking monster doesn’t care about her dead father?” Perrie’s voice was soon cracking but she held herself together, she had to. “I don’t, I don’t, I don’t. I fucking hate him, I fucking hate him for leaving my family, I fucking hate him for leaving me, I fucking hate him for keeping my hopes up. I don’t think I’ll ever hate someone as much as I hate him.” Perrie soon broke into sobs and pulled herself back into Harry’s chest.

The rest of the night was spent with silent sobs, a few whispers and scattered forehead kisses from Harry. His head was in the clouds and he was sure he was going to be the one to tell Niall; it wasn’t his business but no one else in their family was going to tell him. Not to mention, Harry technically was family to them. Harry looked down to see Perrie had stopped sobbing and her eyes were closed shut, against his chest.

“I hate him…” She whispered before she drifted off, and soon Harry nodded his head.

“I do too…” He whispered back, falling asleep with her in his arms.

The day after consisted of calling Niall and explaining what happened, fighting with her parents, finding out that Niall can’t make the plane home to do “extremely bad fucking thunderstorms that fucking has the worst fucking timing in the world” as Niall said, crying, guilt tricking Harry into driving her instead of her parents picking her up, packing, crying some more, and then eventually leaving. The day was too long and Perrie fell asleep before they even got there, it was unimportant to her.

When Perrie was younger, Bobby used to carry her back into her room once she fell asleep on the couch and she never remembered how she got to her bed – she thought it was the coolest thing ever. So when it happened again the morning after their drive, the only reason Perrie knew how she got there was because Harry was sleep on the desk chair that was in the room, his head back as he let out soft snores, still in the clothes from the night before. Slowly, a smile crept to her face, she didn’t even remember why she was so upset and it didn’t hit her until her mother walked into the room, stirring Harry from his sleep and informing the two that the funeral was in an hour – they had missed the wake the night before.

This was the last time she was going to see her dad, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to go. All she really wanted to do was stay in bed and watch Harry as he slept, as creepy as it sounded – it just relaxed her. The way his usually tight face soften when he released small breaths of air or how his curls moved a bit with him whenever he would stir a bit. Her mind suddenly wandered to what it would feel like if he was next to her sleeping. Sure, the other night they had fallen asleep on each other, but it was different, she was numb and nothing felt at peace. But, this time she really hoped she got to experience it again, actually feeling it this time, actually feeling his arms around her waist as his head nuzzled into her neck like a puzzle piece. Perrie would be able to feel how his small breaths tickled her neck or how the deeper into sleep her got, the closer he pulled the girl towards him. She shook her head at once and suppressed the idea from coming back to her. Her father was dead, she hated him, but he was gone and there would be other times to think about a boy.

A boy, who she realized she needed.

Harry never liked funerals, not that anyone really did, but he felt uncomfortable with just the thought of having to get dressed up and sit in a room full of crying people; he was barely okay when his mum cried from romance movies. He helped Perrie that night, but he didn’t know where the instinct to help her actually came from, he was never usually like that. He stood towards the back as they lowered the coffin and listened to the weeping all around him; he felt out of place. Maybe it was because Niall wasn’t there, but it was mostly because he never really lost someone near and dear to his heart, just distant relatives that he never met or family members of neighbors he had when he was very young, too young to even remember, but never someone from his direct family. It was almost natural that Harry wrapped his arms around Perrie when she came over to him crying; Harry hit his growth spurt a bit so he was about her height, maybe a bit taller, so it was easier for him to wrap himself around her.

“I keep ruining your shirts,” she mumbled against his chest as she started to chuckle again but came out as a sob instead.

“You’re just lucky I love you.”

That’s when he realized, she wasn’t the lucky one, he was because no matter what he was 100% sure that being silently in love with Perrie Edwards was like winning the jackpot, it was amazing and rare. Sure enough, she was 1 in a million.

————————————————————————————————————————–

It was Thursday night and Harry was at their usual bar, with their usual drinks, listening to their usual songs, waving to the usual bartenders, but his usual friends weren’t with him. Niall made the excuse of Cher wanting to spend more time together and Perrie was said she was going to a party with Zayn.

Zayn.

He hated that guy, probably more than he hated himself and once you dug deep down Harry Styles; you knew that was a lot. But, how could he tell Perrie that? She had finally found someone who made her happy and he wasn’t going to rip that out of her hands, although there was no doubt about that Zayn didn’t deserve her – he was an asshole.

They had met him a few weeks prior and he just screamed jerk. Harry mostly hated him because he felt like he deserved to be the one that Perrie loved, not him, but, Niall did enjoy the banters he and Zayn had about which teams were the best – that is, when Niall was even around. Most days it was just Harry by himself waiting for his friends who usually text him an hour they were supposed to meet him with the same lame excuse; they were on a date.

That night was no different and it was really expected; Harry had been asked to go to a few parties and some girls even asked him out, but he thought that if no one remembered Thursday traditions that it would just fade out completely, he didn’t want to forget despite how much he pissed and moaned about them in the beginning.

His mind couldn’t help but wander back to the night that they had gotten to a fight when Zayn was first introduced into Perrie’s life. A few years back, the two would get drunk and fall asleep together and usually things ended with them making out and being this cute couple like…thing. They both swore they didn’t have feelings for each other which and everything they were doing was because they were sexually frustrated, although they never actually had sex with each other – that would just be absolutely wrong….wouldn’t it?

Looking back on it now, he hated himself for not taking those opportunities to tell her how he felt or how he needed her, he waited too long and now she was gone with someone else. He still remembered that night though. She never pulled away and she never told him to stop but the words ‘I want to go to sleep’ were enough of a red light that he needed – he would never push her into something that she wasn’t ready for. When he closed his eyes he could still feel the warmth of her skin against his lips or how her neck vibrated when she spoke – everything that would make him go insane now to have.

If it wasn’t for his phone buzzing Harry probably would have stayed in the trance he was in, but seeing Perrie’s name just caused him to reach out. He hadn’t felt the same spark he did back when he was sixteen, but he was pretty sure it still lingered in his bone; he wanted it to just completely die out.

SOS come pick me up she had written which only got Harry to snort and shake his head.

Where’s Zayn? Isn’t he supposed to be your knight in shining armor? He hoped it didn’t sound too much like an asshole response but couldn’t already pressing send.

Don’t be a twat, come help me. Text one said.

Please? Said the second one.

Building A next to the Quad. Thank you. The Quad was where the older people usually hung to either get wasted or to study, other than that it was mostly empty. He put down a enough money that would pay for his drinks and found himself walking where she wanted him to go, he was a puppet and Perrie was pulling the strings.

The night was surprisingly cool and he was glad he brought a jacket with him; he wouldn’t have complained if he didn’t have one, it was just better that he did. He approached the building and could see on the second floor the obvious party that was going on, they didn’t even try to hide it, such a shame. Was he supposed to go up? Or was he supposed to call her and wait for her to come down? What did she even need that was so important? His eyes skimmed over until he saw the girl sitting on a bench just a few feet away from the building – how did he miss that? As he walked closer he heard faint sobs, he braced himself with what was to come next as he walked the few feet that were left between them.

“What happened?” He asked as he sat down next to Perrie, his voice was barely above a whisper. “Are you okay?” Harry shrugged his jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders, there was only person who could do this to her, but the mere thought of him hurting her was enough to make him sick so he pushed it out of his mind until Perrie was going to say something.

“H-He cheated on me. H-He told me that he was sorry and that it h-had been h-h-h-happening since we f-first met.” Sniff. “I-I told him that I lo-loved him and that w-we could wo-work through it.” Sniff. “But he t-told me that i-it was n-n-no use b-because he didn’t love me.” Sniff. This shocked Harry the most, how could someone not love Perrie and how could they possibly be truthful when saying it? “A-Am I n-not lovable? My d-dad didn’t love me and neither does Z-Zayn.”

“Stop it,” Harry snapped looking down at her. “Don’t say that; don’t say that you’re not lovable because it’s not true.” He was getting angry with her only because he loved her, no matter how much he tried to stop the feelings they were there. He hated himself every second that he thought about her and every second he thought about stealing her away from Zayn – he wouldn’t have broken her heart.

“It is true, though! You know it too!” She was standing now, her tears were heavy and her body was shaking. “You have a line of girls out the door who want to date you, Niall has always been able to find love, I’m just here!” Perrie was screaming now, watching as Harry stood up from the bench to step close to him. “I’m always just there. I’m barely missed, I get treated like a child and my own boyfriend decided to tell me he was cheating on me after I walked in on him having sex with someone else – he didn’t even stop! He just continued and smirked like the fucking asshole he is!”

Harry had heard enough, he didn’t exactly do the cliché moment of grabbing her and kissing her but he did grab her and held her as she cried into his shirts. The gesture was familiar, it was like they were sixteen again and she had just told him about her father; he mentally prepared himself for what she was going to say next.

“You need to stop letting me ruin your shirts,” she sobbed quietly to him, the faint blasting of music coming from just a few feet above them, but Harry just drowned it out, he drowned out the music, he drowned out the thought of making Zayn suffer for the pain he caused Perrie, he drowned out his awkwardness for crying people and he just held her, like he always needed to do.

The walk back to his place was more of him half dragging, half carrying Perrie; he knew that Niall was going to be gone all night so they had time to just relax with peace in quiet which would be the first in a long time.

“Your stuff is too big on me,” Perrie complained as she walked out of his bedroom in sweatpants and his favorite Ramones shirt. He couldn’t but find it adorable how it draped over her body and hugged it in all the right areas, it was made for her.

“You’re not going to a fashion show, Pez.”

“Still…I like to look cute when I’m going to sleep.”

“You still look cute, I promise.”

“I know,” she winked and sat on the couch waiting for him to join with the tea that he had made. “H-Harry, I have to ask you something.”

“Hm?”

“Okay, well this is going to sound ridiculous.” In her head it did and in his head he was just more confused as ever. He found it cute that she always asked so many questions, he wondered how many she asked in a day, honestly. “Well, when Zayn and I were fighting he said that it didn’t even matter to him if he was cheating because he could tell I was in love with you…”

“If you’re going to ask if that’s crazy, then I totally agree with you that it is.” He said as sat down on the couch, putting the mugs on the table in front of them.

“Well…no, I wasn’t.” She cleared her throat before asking the real question, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “I was going to ask, is it that obvious?”

“What?” He spat almost immediately, his eyes wide with shock. Did she just admit to being in love with him?

“Was it really that obvious that I’m in love with you?” Yes, yes she did.

“No, not really…is it obvious that I’m in love with you?”

“Yeah, it kind of was.” A giggle filled his ears and before he knew it she was sitting in his lap, her lips pressed up against his. His head was cloudy and his heart was beating fast but that didn’t stop Harry from wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. It was like he had waited years for this moment again and he couldn’t believe it had finally happened. He pulled back fast, his breathing labored as their foreheads were still touching, their chests moving at the same pace.

“I love you…” he whispered as his eyes opened to look at her. She looked like a new person, someone he never recognized, but that was just because she was always Perrie, now she was his Perrie.

“So you do believe in it…” she whispered quietly.

“What?”

“Love, remember a few weeks ago when I asked you if you thought love with real. ‘There’s no such thing as love, it’s a fantasy’ from the movie.” He let out a small ‘oh’ and she giggled.

“Now it depends, do you love me back?”

“I do. I love you.” She whispered before she pressed a small kiss to his lips, pulling out a bit she mumbled, “…So much.” Their lips found each other’s again and soon it just wasn’t enough.

Picking her up carefully, he brought her to his bedroom, gently setting her down on his bed. In his mind he tried to push the thought of A) having sex with his best friend or B) having sex with his best friend’s step sister (which was pretty much point A) as a way to look at it, but C) he was finally going to make love to the woman he did love, Perrie.

The first time is always awkward but to them, it was more about how well they knew each other already. He knew her sweet spots and she knew his and just like everything else in their lives, it fell in place perfectly. Although it did hurt a bit and there was some weird tension in the room at first, there was nothing better for them than that moment – they were in love.

“When did you know?” Perrie asked once they were cuddling in bed, her arm draped around his torso tracing his muscles with her finger.

“That I was in love with you?”

“No, that you could fly.”

“Ha. Funny, you’re hysterical, you know that?” A chuckle left his throat and he just kept the arm that was wrapped around her tight, while he was rubbing circles in her back. “Definitely the night that I found you in the tree house,” He didn’t want to say why he found her there but they both knew which night it was. “When did you?”

“I guess…I guess I always knew, you know? There was just something different about you, something I needed. I tried to hide that as much as I could because I didn’t want to be the weird girl who is in love with her best friend.” She shook her head, “It really wasn’t until I walked in on Zayn that I realized holy shit, Harry would never have done this to me. Harry would never have led me on and then broke my heart. Harry would have loved me….I need Harry.” She spoke more to herself than to him but a smile broke out on her face as she looked up. “I need you, Harry. Please, don’t leave me.”

“Not even if you ruin another one of my shirts.” He smirked and leaned down, giving her a soft kiss before laying down to cuddle with her – her. His her. His Perrie.

———————————–

Niall was hard to tell the next morning, but he had said he had seen it coming. There was also the threat that if they had been fooling around in his room that he would probably kill them.

Their parents were much easier to tell once they had got home, insisting that they had known since the first time the two had met that it was more than friendship and if that they weren’t going to get together soon that…

“Anne was probably going to make an excuse as to why both our families suddenly believed in arranged marriages.” Debby laughed, only causing Perrie to turn red with embarrassment.

“No, I’m serious. You two were practically made for each other.” Anne pointed out as Harry found Perrie’s hand under the kitchen table as their families were crowded around. “I’m so happy for you guys though, you have my blessing to get married! I’ll even pay for everything!”

“Mum!” Harry groaned with an eye roll. “We just got together and you’re already talking about marriage? Aren’t you supposed to be nagging Gemma about that and not me? Aren’t I supposed to be the one that you want to stay little forever?”

“Watch out there kiddo, I think they just want you out of the house first because I don’t eat all the food like you do.” Gemma said, coming over and ruffling his hair gently. “Good luck with this one, Per, he’s really insane.”

“Speaking of insane,” Jonnie cut off giving Harry a look. “Niall probably gave you the speech already so I’ll cut it short. You’re insane if you ever…ever think of breaking up with her, got it? Break her heart and I’ll break you.” Debby gave him a look and he just shrugged and walked away, not without looking back and giving Harry and Perrie a small wink.

“We’re going to step out for a bit,” Harry said giving Perrie and Niall a look and the three walking outside towards the back, towards where they haven’t been in years. The tree house.

“Ha. This shit still looks the same, who knew?” Niall said as he climbed in first, helping Perrie and then giving Harry enough room to walk in.

“Look,” Perrie said reaching over and touching a carving on the wall that said ‘NH + PE + HS, friendship never dies.’ All their eyes were drawn to it and they couldn’t help but look back at each other, besides the obvious change of relationship and the fact that they all his puberty, they were still the same kids that used to come up here every night, not much had actually change.

“I can’t believe how much time has passed.” Niall whispers as he shakes his head. “It feels like ages ago since this place…I wish those nights never ended.” And to them, those nights never did die in their hearts – they were just in a better place, or so they hoped. Once Niall climbed down, Harry caught Perrie before she could leave too.

“Wait,” he whispered before leaning in to kiss her, it was always something he wanted to do when they were younger and now seemed like the perfect opportunity. When they pulled out Perrie smiled softly before leaning in again to kiss him.

“Do you have something that can cut?” She asked once she pulled out again and he shrugged pulling a piece of branch and giving her the sharper side of it. Without a second thought she carved ‘HS + PE’ with a heart around it.

“How cliché,” he snorted and she shrugged a bit.

“It could be worse, I could be faking death and have you believe that it was true love the whole time.”

“Oh, Juliet, how thoughtful,” he faked before kissing her forehead, then her nose, then her cheek and finally her lips. “But, Perrie, my dear, I do know this is true love, because it’s us and it feels right. There is no Rosaline in the picture, there’s just Perrie and Harry how it should be.”

How it would always be.

————————————————————————————————————————–

It was on the night of Niall and Cher’s wedding a few years later that really changed everything between the two – it was just time.

“Harry, where are we going?” Perrie groaned as he brought her away from the party and out towards the back where they could sit alone and leave behind the party, just for a short while. The day had started out with nerves and jitters for everyone and although after the ceremony and best man and maid of honor speeches was given, Perrie was relieved but Harry was not. He still had one thing left in him that he knew would probably make him throw up if he concentrated on it for too long, he just wanted to get it over with, but he wanted it to be perfect.

“Just out here,” he said as they walked to the balcony. It was dark out and the moon shined over the pond that was just a few feet below them, it was a beautiful sight. To Perrie it was breathtaking, to Harry, it didn’t compare with the woman that was standing right in front of him. Their fingers were interlocked and she had his coat over her shoulders. The dress she had to wear fit her in all the right places and was nothing shy of beautiful, the blue made her eyes stand out and made her blonde hair look lighter.

“Do you always like to pull me into random places during random parts of the night?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows with a small giggle. Oh, he loved that giggle.

“Not unless it’s important,” he retorted his hand giving hers a squeeze. “You know I love you right? I always have.” Perrie nodded slowly, a small smile coming to her face. “It’s really not fair how much I love you over my family but we’ll keep that a secret.” Harry winked at her before letting out a small cough. “But, seriously, you’re more than perfect to me, babe. I don’t know how I lasted so long without you –“

“-You always had me,” she corrected him but he shook his head.

“Not like I do now, not like this. You make me a lot happier than someone should but I’m oddly okay with that. I’m okay with the fact that we don’t have to say anything to know what we’re thinking about. I’m more than okay with the feeling of always having to protect you and watch out for you because you are mine, all mine.” Perrie’s eyes shut as she listened to him and when she reopened them, he was down on one knee with a ring, a cheesy smile on his face. “You know how much I hate being cliché but sometimes I have to be.” He coughed a bit before speaking again. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Per. I want to hold you and love you and always remind you why we picked each other. Perrie Louise Edwards, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” the words flew out of her mouth but she didn’t want to stop them – although stopping the tears that were falling down her cheeks would have been helpful. “Of course, yes!” The ring slid onto her finger perfectly, just like everything about her – so perfect. Harry’s arms wrapped around her and he kissed her – tears coming to his own eyes. Cinderella might have been a fairytale, but it was Perrie and Harry who got their happily ever after.


End file.
